The Edinburgh Court of Session has ruled prorogation Parliament unlawful on appeal. Importantly, this ruling does not cancel prorogation. The real showdown will be in the Supreme Court next week. Developing…

UPDATE: Read the full ruling here:

UPDATE II:The reason the case was brought in Scotland is that Scottish law differs hugely from English and Welsh law, particularly over constitutional matters. Expert lawyer David Allen Green puts “chances of the action succeeding in London as zero”…

“something which unconstitutional can also be unlawful in Scotland, even if held to be lawful by High Court in London”

That is why I and others would have put the chances of the action succeeding in London as zero

And that is why cannily the action was launched in Scotland, where judges and the law would be far more receptive

Quote of the Day

Writing in this week’s Spectator Diary, the former Chancellor and Evening Standard editor attempted to encapsulate how Boris operates…

“My children have the measure of our prime minister. A couple of years ago, my son and I went for a lovely Sunday lunch at his house in Oxfordshire — where he has a Kalashnikov mounted on the wall. Boris suggested we play a game. A tug of war, but with a difference. The rope is tied around your waist and the contest takes place across a swimming pool. If you lose you end up in the water, fully clothed.

That’s Johnson for you: fun, inventive but ruthless. I suspect his brother Jo had one ducking too many.”